“Technology Can Rig Election” – Ex-Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.

“Technology Can Rig Election” – Ex-Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.

With less than four weeks to the general election, voters in Nigeria have been warned to stay vigilant despite the advent of technology in this month’s presidential polls. As reported by the Leadership Newspaper, the ex-Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga gave this advisory warning to electorates in Abuja on Tuesday, January 31 at the international conference during the 14th edition of the LEADERSHIP Annual Conferences and Awards.

Odinga who said he was speaking from experience said acknowledge the importance of technology but the elections might want to be sabotaged by the elites.

While speaking about the repercussions of rigging, the veteran Kenyan politicians noted that it could jeopardise the confidence of investors in the country as well as the notion from the electorates that their votes do not count.

Odinga said:

“There is a need to rethink the use of technology. Either we adopt reliable election technology, including voting machines that generate a voter-verifiable audit trail, so voters can confirm that their choices are being recorded accurately, or we go fully manual.”  

He further stated that electoral management bodies in many African countries have been captured by the incumbent government.

Odinga said these trends have caused elections in Africa to be porous, lacking credibility and lacking fair contest amongst candidates.

He said:

“As a continent, we have to agree that critical development efforts cannot succeed without a legitimate and democratically elected government that is responsive and accountable to its citizens and the investor community.”